Teaching Patience (Homespun) Read Free Page A

for?”  He deliberately misunderstood what she’d meant to make her squirm.  He found he enjoyed watching the pretty schoolteacher stumble over her words.  If life were different, he’d be asking her father for permission to court her.  He was surprised when the thought entered his head.  He hadn’t been interested in courting anyone since the fiasco with his wife.
    “That’s not what I mean.  I mean I shouldn’t have said it the way I did.  I said it in a condescending manner, and that was wrong of me, and I’m sorry.”   She paused, her guileless eyes looking up into his.  “I pray for all of my students and their parents.”
    He crossed his arms over his chest, just as he had on Friday afternoon.  “ But you won’t pray for me?”  He had to force himself not to smile as he watched her try to formulate a good response to his question.
    “Yes, I’ll pray for you.  I’ll pray you will work with me to help instill a love of learning in Charlie, but I won’t pray you get kicked by a mule.”
    He smiled for the first time.  “How many times have you prayed I’d get kicked by a mule?”  The emotions that ran across her face were fascinating to him.  He’d never seen a woman who had such an expressive face, and he found he liked it a lot.
    She sighed.  “I’ve never prayed that about anyone.  I just wanted to with you, and I’m sorry for that.”   Was there a more exasperating man in all of God’s creation than Hugh Walker? 
    “Apology accepted.”
    “Thank you for that.”  She stood looking at him as if trying to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind.  “I hope you enjoy your Sunday.”  She turned and walked away.
    Hugh stood and watched the little schoolteacher walk off, trying not to laugh out loud.  He had to give her credit, though.  Not many women would have admitted to the unkind thoughts she’d had as she did.  He found himself reluctantly admiring her. 
    He was glad he had decided to move to Minnesota with Charlie.  When his wife had declared she was going to divorce him and marry another man, he hadn’t known what to think.  He’d always been a God fearing man, and it had never occurred to him his wife would just run off and marry someone else.  His pastor had assured him he’d done nothing wrong and he was free to remarry, but he felt as if he was tainted somehow.  Leaving the farm in upstate New York and moving out west was the best thing he could have done.  Everyone assumed he was a widower, and no one was looking at him as if he were an ogre anymore. 
    If only he knew what to do about Charlie.  He was a good boy, but he was so rambunctious.  Every time he turned around someone was coming to him with a tale of what Charlie had done.  He loved his son, and wanted him to grow up to be a good man, but he just didn’t know how to make that happen.  The boy needed a mother, but he didn’t want a wife.  There had to be some way to compromise.
    *****
    While they were cooking supper together that evening, Millie asked Patience if she’d talked to Mr. Walker.  “Yes, I did.  He’s a strange man.  He always seems to be either laughing at me or angry with me.  I swear, I thought he was going to burst out laughing while I was apologizing.”
    Millie hid her grin.  “Do you feel better after apologizing?”
    “You know, I’m not really sure.  I mean, I’m glad I did it, because it was the right thing to do, but the way he reacted left me feeling strange about the whole situation.”  She shrugged.  “I did the right thing, though, and that’s what matters.  Right?”   Patience had never felt at such a loss with a school situation before.  She’d had no trouble handling everything that came along with aplomb, because she knew all the families so well.  Having a child she didn’t know, and a parent she didn’t know how to approach, was making her question her capabilities of doing a good job teaching.
    Millie