“I heard a little bit of what you said to Jeff, Kaitlin. Is there anything you want to add?”
Kate couldn’t say anything. She wasn’t really embarrassed, just wary of confrontations. She also knew that the thoughts she shared with Jeff should have been said directly to Rigg. Jeff tactfully left them alone, and the silence between them lengthened.
The sun was beginning to set; it was a little darker beneath the trees and the breeze had picked up, sending a cool draught against Kaitlin’s bare arms. Crossing her arms in an effort to keep warm, she finally broke the silence.
“Even though it’s hard for me to face you, I’m rather glad you came out when you did, or I would probably never have talked to you.
“I meant what I said to Jeff but I should have said it all to you. You couldn’t be more kind to Sean and Marcail, but you treat me so strangely. One minute you’re tender and the next you’re ordering me about as though you owned me.
“I’m not a child, but neither do I have the wisdom of the ages, and I just don’t know how to handle this underlying animosity between us. In another circumstance I would just keep my distance from you, but with Sean living with you and me staying temporarily with your folks, that’s impossible.
“If I’ve done something or am doing something that is offensive to you, I’d be more than happy to clear the air. And I know I’ve said a lot but there’s just one more thing. I hope that anything between us won’t affect the way you treat Sean and Marcail. I know they like you and it’s so hard to be here without our folks, I just hope that—”
“Kaitlin.” Her name, softly spoken in his deep voice, brought her to a halt. He came close enough to touch her, but did not.
“I’ve been so wrong in the way I’ve treated you. Will you please forgive me?”
“Yes,” she said immediately.
“I’ll try not to be so bossy with you, but please understand that you and Marcail gave me quite a scare on Friday. In my mind, leaving you at that house would have been like leaving an infant in the snow. You had no money or food or even sufficient blankets for the bed. I was afraid you would refuse me so I ordered instead of asked.
“As for the other—the teasing—all I can say is that I’m not myself with you. We got off to such a bad start. I mean, right away you didn’t like me, and I wanted you to like me. And not just because I let your brother live with me. Am I making any sense to you?”
Kate nodded. “Thank you for telling me. It clears up a lot. So much has happened to bruise my emotions, and my mind never goes more than an hour all day without wondering where my Father is and if he’s all right.
“What I need right now is friendship. I hope you’ll understand when I tell you I can’t handle anything more than that.”
“I do understand, and I hope you’ll consider me a friend.”
“Thank you.” The words were whispered sweetly and Rigg watched as tears puddled in those huge brown eyes. Rigg mentally shook his head. He’d just offered to be her friend. Husband was much closer to what he had in mind.
Desperately wanting to be the man Kaitlin needed him to be, his heart cried out to God for help. He knew as he looked into those eyes that if it took forever, he was going to try to win this woman’s heart. If he had to stuff his own emotions into a place deep within himself in order to do that, that was exactly what he would do.
“It’s getting pretty cool out here. Why don’t we go in?”
“Okay. Mr. Riggs, may I ask you something?”
“Anything.” Rigg wondered how long he could endure being addressed as Mr. Riggs.
“Did Sean really do all right today? Were you pleased with the job he did, or did he get into some sort of trouble?”
“I think he did fine. Why do you ask?”
“He said something he’s never said before, something about making mistakes and getting the hang of it. I’ve never known Sean to have a bit of trouble catching on to anything.”
“The young man training him might have given him a hard time this morning. I checked on them several times this afternoon and even though they’re not best friends, I think they both know where the other one stands.”
Kate thanked him for explaining. She strongly suspected that Sean was putting pressure on himself to work and be the man in the family. She shared her belief with Rigg, feeling for the first time like she could really talk to him.
“And what bothers me the most is his schooling. Sean will be 15 in December. I don’t want him getting it into his head to quit school and try to support us.”
“I have noticed that he’s very conscious of your welfare. I think he’ll stay in school and it’ll help that Nate is there. But I will keep my ears open and if he says anything to me about wanting more hours before summer, I’ll discourage it.”
“Thank you. I feel better knowing that you think he should stay in school. Some people think that once you’re a teen, you’ve had all the school you need.”
“Well, Santa Rosa certainly has some of those but I’m not one of them.”
They were back at the house, Rigg walking with Kaitlin, his heart swelling with joy. She was talking to him like he was a friend. When he’d felt a very definite burden to join her and Jeff, he’d fought it. At the moment he couldn’t have been more thrilled that he’d listened to his heart.
All the lamps were lit in the living room when Kate and Rigg stepped through the front door and Bill immediately told Kate they wanted to talk with her. Sean, Nate and Gil were taking their baths. Marcail was sharing Jeff’s chair and they’d been reading a story until Kate came in. Kaitlin sat down on the sofa expectantly.
“I’ve been planning to make an announcement tomorrow morning to the congregation about your house needing supplies. I don’t mind doing that, and I can promise you there will be a great response. But Kate, we’d really like you to stay here. That is, we want you to know that you’re welcome here for as long as you’d like. We even have an extra wagon and Nate can drive all of you to school each day.”
Smiling at the sincere faces of the people before her, Kate’s voice told of her gratitude.
“You’ve been so kind to let us stay with you and I praise God for you. If I knew a little better when Father would be back, I might take you up on it. But I think Marcail and I should go back to the little house as soon as possible.”
The Taylors respected Kate’s wishes even though their disappointment was evident.
“I’ll go ahead with the announcement as planned. May is ready to write down the things you need.”
So Kate began, with Marcail and even Rigg adding to the list. Dishes, silverware, hollow-ware, pots, bedding, extra chairs; the list seemed endless.
“Now,” Bill said when the list looked complete, “how are you set financially?”
“I got paid today.” Sean had come down the stairs in time to hear the question.
“When will you be paid Kaitlin?” Rigg wanted to know.
“At the end of April. Since I don’t start teaching until March twenty-seventh, that is, since the month is almost over, Mr. Carson figured he would just put those five days in March onto my April check.”
“Has Mr. Carson been handling everything for you, Kaitlin?”
“Yes, he’s been very nice.”
Bill’s face gave no hint of his thoughts, and even though Rigg and Jeff were exchanging a look, Kate didn’t notice. None of them were exactly sure when Burt Kemp had left town. They were all hoping that Kate had worked with him, but it looked as if Greg Carson had been on the job.
“So Mr. Carson found the house for you?”
“Right.”
“And how about your wages. Did Mr. Carson set that too?” Bill’s voice was as smooth as honey, and Kate answered calmly with no signs of offense over such a personal question.
“Yes, he took care of that. You see, I don’t have a teaching certificate and he felt it would be better to give me a little lower wage to compensate for that. The rent at the house takes a major part of my salary but we’ll get by with Sean working.” She smiled with genuine confidence at Sean.
“Kaitlin, would you think me intruding to ask how much your monthly salary is?”
“Oh no, I don’t mind. Actually it’s kind of nice to have someone to talk to because we’ve never lived on our own before.” Kate went on to answer Bill’s question and noticed that the adults in the room became very still. When Rigg spoke his voice was tender.
“Katie, your wages aren’t a little lower than the usual teacher’s pay, they’re less than half of what they should be.”
“Oh,” was all she could say and she looked over at Marcail who had begun to gnaw on her lip, a sure sign of distress.
“Well,” Kate said carefully—and maybe a little too cheerfully—her eyes on her sister, “you said the people at the church would be helping us with the things we need, so we just need to buy food.”
“Did you have any money when you came into town?” Jeff asked kindly. No one had missed the focus of Kaitlin’s gaze and all were sensitive to the feeling of security this little girl needed.
“Yes, our aunt gave us some. We used it to pay our rent,” Sean supplied.
“And your rent is paid through April?” Bill probed.
“We had enough to pay for about three weeks, so half of April.”
“And what had you planned to do then?”
“We’ve been praying about that.”
Bill leaned forward in his chair to make sure he had Kate’s attention. “Then will you consider me an answer to those prayers? I would like to give you some money and I would also like to speak with Greg. He needs to be made aware of your financial situation.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want him to think I came running to you and complained.”
“I can explain everything to him Monday morning, that is, if you agree.”
Kate looked over at Sean who told her yes with the move of his head and the look on his face.
“All right Mr. Taylor. And thank you for everything.”
“The pleasure is all ours Kaitlin, believe me.” These were the first words May had spoken during this talk and Kaitlin would have run from the room if she could have read her hostess’ mind. May had just thanked God for a Christian wife for Rigg.