Page 7

F ive

“Tilda?” Michelle stood at the door of her classroom just as the children were dismissed. Michelle had struck Tilda as a confident woman. Bold and brilliant, with very little self-doubt. Right now, though, she looked kind of nervous.

Tilda had spent the morning with Annie; in the afternoon, the children had been divided up according to their interests. The four rooms were organized by science, architecture and construction, math, and, for the first time today, history.

She’d been delighted by how many of the children, given the chance, had come into her classroom expressing an interest in history, including Thayne and Lock.

She had some ideas about what she wanted to teach, but for today she’d played a few games and given each child a chance to introduce themself, so that Tilda could get to know them a little.

She’d decided, considering where they were, she would start by teaching them about the history of the West, beginning with the Native folks who’d been there first. Then she’d talk to them about the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés and his voyage of exploration.

She planned to make the students wait a bit before covering the pioneers, the set tlers, and the gold rush, which began in 1848—two years before California became a state.

And then, after making just one passing mention of gold, she’d noticed the strong enthusiasm of her students.

She knew then she couldn’t make them wait too long before teaching about the gold rush, for she didn’t want to lose that enthusiasm. She tried to remember why history had always fascinated her and hoped she could transfer that fascination to the students.

“Come in, Michelle,” Tilda said.

The last of the students filed out of the room. As Thayne and Lock reached Michelle, she said something quietly to them. They both grinned and nodded, then stepped out into the hall, the door closing behind them.

Tilda smiled. “What was that about?”

“I told them their aunt Michelle hoped they’d stay at the ranch house and eat with us until Brody gets back. They said that suits them fine.”

Tilda nodded, knowing she’d be sleeping upstairs in the girls’ dormitory tonight.

“I got the wire back from Mrs. Worthington,” Michelle began.

“We went back and forth a few times because she was insistent that you return. I had to refuse more than once before she finally told me what she wanted.” Michelle had a strange, intense look in her eyes.

Not quite anger, but she wasn’t exactly pleased either.

“What’s happened? Is she sick? Does she need me to step in for her? I’m not really the one who—”

“Your brother contacted her. He wants you to come home.”

“My ... my...” Tilda stared at Michelle as she thought of her adoptive parents’ three grown daughters. “I-I don’t have a brother.”

Michelle came the rest of the way into the room and rested one hand on Tilda’s shoulder and the other on her rounded belly.

How long until her baby was born? Dr. MacKenzie shouldn’t have gone traveling right now.

At least Michelle moved well, and her belly, though round, didn’t seem to slow her down much.

“Apparently you do. And he’s coming here to find you.”

“What? No.” Shaking her head violently, she thought of the adults who sometimes were cruel to orphan children.

Could this be such a man? But people like that didn’t ride across the country looking for children to prey on.

And Tilda was no child. “A man can’t just show up here and take me.

” She grabbed Michelle’s hand. “You won’t let some stranger take me away from the ranch, will you? ”

Tilda felt foolish. She shouldn’t be begging for Michelle to stand as a shield between her and whoever this was. She should have the strength to stand on her own. Besides, if she was going to hide behind someone, a very pregnant woman wasn’t the best choice. Where was Josh?

Michelle shook her head. “Of course not. This man won’t be taking you anywhere. We protect the people who live and work on our ranch. You’re safe here, Tilda.”

“What does that mean, she’s safe?” Josh strode into the room. “Are the boys acting up again?”

“No, no.” Michelle waved Josh’s worry aside.

Tilda thought that if Josh wanted to worry, she’d give him something real to worry about.

Michelle went on. “Some man back in New York City showed up at the orphanage where Tilda worked and is claiming to be her brother. That’s why we got that wire telling Tilda to come home.

When I told Mrs. Worthington Tilda was staying here, she said the brother would then come here to fetch her back home. ”

Michelle shrugged one shoulder. “It sounds like we’ve got company coming.”

Josh looked around the room. “I wonder if he’s a teacher.”

“I don’t have a brother,” insisted Tilda.

Josh flinched. “What, and he’s coming all the way here to see you?”

Tilda turned to Michelle, who answered, “That’s what Mrs. Worthington says.”

The more Tilda thought about it, the worse it sounded.

She wrung her hands as she considered all the possible reasons some stranger would claim her as his sister.

None of what she imagined was good. “I should run. I’ll go out into the mountains and stay there until whoever this is goes away.

I’ll camp out. Live off the land. I’ll—”

“Now, hold up,” said Josh, moving closer to Tilda. “You’re not going anywhere. Like Michelle said, you’re safe here.”

“Didn’t Dr. MacKenzie just get shot?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“And Lock told me he fell over a cliff a few weeks back.”

Josh nodded. “That’s true. Brody fell over the cliff, too.”

“And don’t forget,” Michelle added, “how that mob overran our mission group and nearly killed all of us and burned down our church.”

Josh shrugged as if he conceded the point. “That was before I got home, though.”

Tilda wasn’t feeling any better.

“Living off the land is hard work, and it’s tricky.

” Mi chelle’s brow furrowed, and yet Tilda saw something in her eyes, something almost .

.. amused. “Do you have a gun? Do you know how to bring down a deer, skin it, butcher it, roast it over a fire? Do you know how to start a fire?” Michelle looked at Josh.

“We could lend her a blanket and some matches, I suppose.”

Josh glared at his sister-in-law. Then, when she grinned, he shook his head and turned back to Tilda.

“You’re not running off. You’re not living off the land.

We’re not going to let this supposed brother take you anywhere.

In fact”—Josh snapped his fingers—“I’ll bet this is a case of mistaken identity. You said you’re an orphan, right?”

“I was an orphan until I was adopted by the family with three daughters.”

“So this so-called brother has you mixed up with someone else. Maybe his parents dropped him and his sister off at an orphanage twenty or so years ago, and now he’s searching for you.”

“My earliest memory is of living on the streets with a pack of other kids. I got swept up by the police a few times and lived in an orphanage for a while several times. Then when I was about ten, and doing another stint, I got adopted.”

“This brother person doesn’t know that.” Michelle jumped into the guessing game.

“He’s got you mixed up with his own missing sister.

It’s a shame he’s taking this long trip, but I didn’t give Mrs. Worthington one bit of encouragement.

We’ll wait until he gets here. Give him a good meal.

Advise him to go see the ocean while he’s close and then send him on his way. ”

“He’s coming from New York City,” Josh said. “He’s seen an ocean.”

Tilda couldn’t stop wringing her hands with worry.

Josh patted her on the shoulder. “Now then, I told them in the school dining room that we were both eating at the house tonight. The boys are headed there. I planned to spend time looking at that journal and Graham MacKenzie’s papers with everyone, but we can discuss your visitor, too.

I’ve got a few hands eating here to help ride herd on the children. We’ll be back by bedtime.”

Josh gently steered Tilda out of the room, although she barely noticed she was moving. Her mind was too busy thinking of just exactly what she’d need to know to live off the land. She’d never even seen a deer.