“Copper! Where are you!” Audrey Pride slammed the front door and raced through the parlor. Copper appeared in the back doorway. “What?”
“Our prayers have been answered!” Audrey waved the telegraph wire that had just been delivered by horseback.
Copper’s eyes lit. “We have the jobs!”
“Well—just me, for now, but I’m sure Beeder’s Cove will reach the same decision any day now.”
Clasping each other’s arms, the two women danced around the kitchen. Audrey had always believed in the power of prayer, but God had worked even more swiftly than she’d dared hope. Why, they’d only been back from Thunder Ridge scant weeks, and already she had secured Blackberry Hill’s teaching position. The news was simply too good to be true. The school board had indicated it might be months before they reopened school, but the proof of vigilant prayer was in her hand, a telegraph from Blackberry Hill informing her that she was to come right away, that they planned to open school that fall, and much was to be done in preparation.
Copper paused. “I’ll come with you.”
“Of course you’ll come with me, you goose!” Audrey reached for another tight hug. “I couldn’t move without you. You can stay with Willow, and by fall I just know that Beeder’s Cove will summon you.”
Copper hugged back tightly. “We’ve been through too much to part ways now.”
“Way too much,” Audrey agreed, thinking back to the hours of fighting on the battlefront together. She, Willow Madison, and Copper had helped defend Timber Creek from the Yanks, but they’d lost. The town was mostly burned-out shells now. A small rural population still existed, but one by one the families were leaving in search of new homesteads. The war was over, and now Copper, Willow, and she would be reunited, even if Willow was planning to marry Silas Sterling and remain in Thunder Ridge, Texas. Blackberry Hill was a scant few miles down the road, and Beeder’s Cove the same small distance to the south.
At least the three women would be together again.
Willow’s letters had begged for Audrey and Copper to leave Timber Creek and move to Thunder Ridge. Judge Madison had even invited them to stay with him. He had a big old house, but he suffered from ill health.
The two women looked at each other and screamed in unison.
“We’re really going!”
Audrey broke into action. “We really are! With my teaching position I can support the both of us, and we won’t be a burden to Willow and the judge. We’ll pack tonight, and leave first thing in the morning.”
Within the hour, they’d packed the wagon and made ready.
Approaching hoofbeats awoke both women before dawn. A rider appeared on their doorstep, and Audrey hurried to slide the thick bolt. Since the war, no town was safe from marauding bands of displaced soldiers and Indians, and because the male population of Timber Creek was practically nil, the town was most susceptible to foul play. The rider wordlessly handed her a wire.
Her heart sank. Maybe Blackberry Hill had changed its mind. Maybe they wouldn’t be opening a school this fall after all. Disappointment rose like bile to the back of her throat.
Yawning, Copper appeared behind her, tying the sash of her robe. “Who is it?”
Audrey read the name on the missive and suddenly broke into a wide grin. “Unless I miss my guess, your prayers have just been answered.” She handed her friend a wire sent from Beeder’s Cove. They both had jobs.
Life was about to get a whole lot better.