Annie And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 3) Read Free Page A

future - she prayed that her first visit would not be for her Father’s funeral.
    A young, freckle-faced porter brought her trunk on his little trolley, and took her to where a coach was waiting. “This will take you to Stephenville Miss. Good luck,” he said warmly. She tipped him handsomely. He had been very kind. He was about to pass her trunk up to the driver when a hearty voice called out to them.
    “Miss Fitzpatrick?” Annie turned to see a tall and smartly dressed woman surging towards her. “I’m Mariette Williams, you must be Annie? The town council asked if I could come and meet you. I have a carriage, it will be so much more comfortable.” She held out her hand, and Annie took it. She found her arm being pumped enthusiastically. “It is a pleasure to meet you, we’re so looking forward to getting our little school up and running.” The young porter looked at her, silently questioning where she wanted her trunk. She nodded him towards Mariette’s carriage.
    “I just hope I won’t let you all down,” Annie said feeling nervous. It had finally hit her what a reckless, and possibly foolhardy, thing she had just done. She had no experience of teaching school children, except in Sunday school of course - and no clue how to find herself a home or anything. She had been a schoolgirl, and a mother. She prayed fervently that her experiences as both would see her through.
    “You’ll be exceptional, I can tell,” Mariette said definitely. Annie found herself believing her, her faith was so staunch even though she had never met her. “The School House is charming. I managed to talk them into making sure it was a little way from the school itself. I don’t know about you, but I find it is rather lovely to be able to close the door on your place of work and have a gentle stroll home. Clears the head I always find.” The porter was scurrying behind them, his short legs struggling to keep up with the long stride of this incredibly confident woman. Annie herself was almost running, found herself too out of breath to respond, not that she had anything to add. Mariette was clearly not worried by her silence in the slightest, and was more than happy to carry on regardless.
    Mariette swung herself up into the driver’s seat, and beckoned to the porter to pass her the trunk. He dithered a little, unsure whether to comply but soon realised she was getting impatient. Something about the look in her eyes told him not to upset this woman. She swung the trunk up and onto the roof, as if it weighed less than her elegantly feathered hat. Annie couldn’t help but be impressed. “Do you wish to travel inside, or up here on the dashboard with me?” she asked. “The view is infinitely nicer out here.”
    “I’ll join you, it would be lovely to see where I will be living.” Annie ignored the proffered hand the porter gave to help her up and like Mariette heaved herself up. Mariette chuckled as if she had found a partner in crime.
    “Well, that is good to see, another woman in town not scared to do things her own way. You’ll fit in nicely.”

 
    Chapter Two
     
    Edward Cole was exhausted. He had been up all night getting the weekly print of the paper completed. Mariette had demanded another last minute change of front page as they had heard the news that the new school teacher would be arriving today. The news didn’t bother him one bit, he couldn’t understand why it was so important, but he knew that many of the families in town would want to know. He missed living in a big city, being able to report on and expose powerful people, who were abusing their privilege. He had come here hoping that it would make him feel somehow more connected to something, but it hadn’t really worked the way he had hoped. Being so close to such broad expanses of stunning meadows and mountains had been too much of a reminder of his past. He locked up the newspaper office doors behind him and set off for home.
    He needed to grab a