Where the Wild Rose Blooms (15 page)

I count the days until we can be together and look forward to my return trip to see your family. You have all been in my prayers. How are things with Jackie and Clayton? I have praised God many times that her heart has become kinder.

Please tell Sammy that I received her letter and will be writing her soon. She told me about some cookies she was baking. I hope she'll make some more after I arrive. Thank your mother for setting things up with your Uncle Mitch so that Travis and I will not have to stay at the hotel. I will book a room for our wedding night, but the apartment above the store is much more practical for the week before the wedding.

A verse from Philippians says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." My heart could feel no less. I love you, Eddie.

Yours always,

Robert

Eddies eyes slid shut, and a huge sigh escaped her lips. He was so wonderful, and if he thanked God for her, Eddie nearly
shouted
her praise to God for him. She would have liked to lay on her bed and pray for the

next hour, but Jackie came in. Eddie wasn't angry over the interruption, but she decided right then to write Robert after she'd asked Jackie his question.

"Hi," Eddie said, sitting up. "What's up?"

"The sky" was Jackie's reply before she grinned. Eddie laughed and wondered at the change in her in the last few weeks. She wasn't anywhere near as moody as she had been, and her attitude was softening toward everyone in the house.

"Robert asked about you in his letter," Eddie told her.

"He did?" Jackie seemed very surprised.

"Yes. I talk to him about everyone, and he wanted to know how you were feeling about Clayton these days."

Jackie looked away for a minute. "I had a long talk with Mother about it, but I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was going to be kinder to him; I mean, I wasn't going to hold his hand or anything ..." Jackie's face was comical. "Mother made me see that he didn't deserve to be treated the way I've been treating him."

"So what is it that you don't know now?"

Jackie shrugged. "He hasn't been around. I think I've only seen him twice in the last month. The first time he was all the way across the church, and the other time he walked by the store but didn't come in."

Eddie nodded. "This really isn't a very good time of year for socializing."

Jackie's gaze turned to the window. "I think the snow is going to be here forever."

They were quiet for a time before Eddie spoke.

"What changed your mind about Tag, Jackie? What was it Mother said?"

"She didn't really say anything." Jackie now looked at Eddie, her voice quiet. "I waited on Clayton at the store one day, and I was so irritated that I grabbed a collar pin from his hand and poked him in the finger. He bled, Eddie." Jackie's voice was tortured. "I've never been so ashamed in all my life. He didn't get angry or anything. He just wrapped it in his handkerchief and went on his way."

Eddie thought that sounded like something Clayton would do, but Jackie wouldn't have known that about him. It was very exciting to Eddie that her younger sister might be giving the man a chance. Not that she was hearing wedding bells or anything quite so dramatic, but Eddie saw Clayton for the fine man that he was, and she knew that Jackie was going to be lonely when she moved away to Boulder.

'The time will come for you to talk," Eddie predicted. "Probably at church or maybe at the store. You'll see.

Jackie nodded, and her gaze went back out the window. It was hard not to know, but at the moment she was amazingly calm inside. The meeting probably would be when she didn't expect it, but maybe that was best. A spark of fear and then anger lit in Jackie's soul. Fear threatened to choke her—fear of his rejecting her, laughing in her face, or treating her like a child. The only way Jackie knew to fight that kind of fear was to get angry at it and everyone around her, but she didn't want to do that again. With one small hand clenched in the folds of her skirt, she managed to tamp the feeling down. It took a few minutes, but at last she was calm.

There's no point in getting all shook up, Jackie,
she said to herself.
Its impossible to know when or where, so you might as well relax.
But Jackie found that this was easier said than done, and as the end of January gave way to early February, which gave way to the middle of the month, Jackie wrestled almost daily with her feelings.

"We have a special guest this week," Miss Bradley announced on Monday morning. "Mr. Clayton Taggart is going to be observing us all this week." She looked at Clayton. "I'm proud to tell you, Mr. Taggert, that this class is full of the brightest students I've ever taught. They do not always apply themselves," she added almost dryly, "but their potential is tremendous."

"Now," the teacher's voice turned more serious as she again faced the class. "Many of you may know our

guest on a first-name basis, but this week he is Mr. Taggart. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Miss Bradley," chorused the occupants of the room.

"Now, to start off, Mr. Taggart is simply going to observe, but beginning this afternoon I will be choosing students from each form to sit in the back with Mr. Taggart and explain a subject to him. You will speak

clearly if you are spoken to while still at your desk and answer all questions to the best of your ability. Let us
b
egin.

Jackie had never had such a hard time with concentration. She was as aware of Claytons presence as anyone could be. Questions plagued her, tortured her even. Would he try to humiliate her or get back at her for the way she'd treated him? If only she'd had a chance to talk to him before.

Jackie was completely unaware of the way her thoughts showed on her face. She felt as vulnerable as if she'd been asked to sit in school in her underclothing. Her tormented thoughts eased a little when she saw Clayton put a hand on
Paddy's shoulder, and more so when she saw him smooth Lexa's hair, but she was still in a panic. In fact, she was so troubled that unknown to her, her eyes pleaded with Clayton when he came by. He hadn't planned to stop, but her eyes were so miserable that he paused.

"How's it going?" he asked, his voice low and completely normal. Jackie trembled with relief.

"Its fine," she told him softy and was rewarded by his kind smile before he passed on to the next row.

The day got better from that point, and Jackie even managed to thank Clayton for the ride home. His eyes were warm but not teasing as he acknowledged her words, and Jackie went into the house feeling like she'd been given the day.

"I ate lunch with Paddy today," Milly told her brother. They had gone into the barn, but cold as it was Milly seemed in no hurry to rush inside. She stood holding her books in front of her, her hat and mittens still in place.

"I saw you." Clayton stared at her over the back of the horse.

"He said something about Jackie."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He wondered if the two of you might be seeing each other. He said she watched you the whole morning."

Clayton nodded. He'd been more than aware of her gaze.

"I don't think she hates you anymore, Tag," Milly continued. "I don't think she hates anyone anymore."

Clayton came out from the stall, patting the roan-colored rump as he passed. He stopped before Milly.

"Maybe she's growing up a little."

"Maybe. She still doesn't have many friends, though," Milly said sadly.

"It takes time for a person to live down a bad reputation. Some» times it never goes away.

"But you've never been angry back or hated her, have you Tag?"

"Well, not for long. Where Jackie and I are concerned, I brought some of her feelings on myself. I pushed in and teased her, and hurt her in the process. I know better now."

Milly suddenly had to hug her brother. "You're going to make a wonderful teacher, Tag. I know that with all my heart."

Clayton gladly hugged her in return. Nothing else she could have said would have warmed his heart more.

"Jacqueline, you will go to the back now with Mr. Taggart. Please explain the Upper Form mathematics. Go over what we've been learning and be certain to take your book."

"Yes, Miss Bradley." Jackie's voice was subdued, but she obeyed. Her legs shook just a litde as she rose and turned to the back. Jackie sat in the last seat so she didn't have far to go to the table and two chairs that had been set up at the back. Clayton was waiting for her, ready to hold her chair. Jackie thanked him in a soft voice and waited until he sat opposite her. She thought they would get right down to business, but Clayton surprised her.

"Why do you suppose Miss Bradley chose you to tell me about this?"

"Oh." Jackie faltered for a moment and made her hands lie still on the table. "Well, I think maybe because I'm good in this subject."

"Is it your favorite?"

Jackie looked into his eyes and then down, feeling very self-conscious.

"No, but I like it all right."

"What is your favorite?"

"World history."

Clayton smiled.

"Mine too."

Jackie bit her lip, but her smile stretched through. She forced herself to ask, "Did you want to hear about math now?"

"Sure," Clayton answered easily, and Jackie felt herself relaxing. She knew, however, that Clayton would have been just as content to sit and talk with her about something other than math. She opened the book, and Clayton leaned forward intently.

Jackie was very good at explaining things, and everything was familiar to Clayton, who was also good in math. He couldn't have said exactly when she lost him, but at some point the young man stopped listening to math and started listening more to the young woman.

The sound of Jackie's voice and the way her slim—fingered hands moved captivated him. The deep blue of her eyes was nearly hypnotic, and Clayton wondered when his feelings for her had moved from concern to something deeper. He was still concerned for her and cared more than he could tell her, but there was another feeling sinking deeply into his heart.

The funny part was that Clayton didn't know why. Jackie was not sweet and gentle like Eddie, or sensitive and kind like Danny, but she was Jackie—just Jackie. She was a girl in whom Clayton had seen serious faults, but he still cared. And although she tried her hardest not to disclose herself, he also saw a vulnerability in her that tore his heart nearly in two. Maybe she was like the students he hoped to teach one day. He simply ached to "take her on" and help her to be all she could be.