Page 101 of The School Mistress (Emerson Pass Historicals 1)

Alexander looked at me first, and I nodded to let him know I was fine.

Lancaster took his gun from the holster around his waist. “Looks to me we’ve got ourselves a prisoner.” He and Alexander yanked Kellam to his feet. “Let’s go have a talk down at the jail.”

“Untie his legs,” Lancaster said to Alexander. “He’s going to have to walk.”

Alexander knelt and untied Alma’s knot. The rope hung from his wrists and trailed down his backside like a tail. How appropriate, I thought, for an animal.

As Lancaster dragged him out the door, Kellam growled and glared at his daughter. “You did this to me.”

Louisa sobbed but didn’t say anything. The girls had all gathered around her. Josephine slipped her hand into Louisa’s. “It’s all right,” Josephine said. “We’re all here.”

The other girls held hands and created a protective circle around Louisa. “Don’t watch,” Martha said. “Just look at us. Do you see us?”

“Yes,” Louisa said. “I see you.”

“Always protect one another,” Cymbeline said.

The boys huddled together in the corner of the room, cowed for once. They sank to the floor in a heap of exhaustion after our ordeal.

“Children, you did well,” I said, faintly. “Teamwork was never better demonstrated than this afternoon.”

“What do we do now?” Flynn asked.

“Stay here with Miss Cooper for a few minutes,” Alexander said. “Just until the sheriff can do his work.

“I think going home early might be a good idea,” I said. “Just this once.”

I went into Alexander’s outstretched arms, shaking from the adrenaline. “My brave girl,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. You should have seen this pack of wolves we’re raising. They were fierce.”

“Like their teacher,” he said.

I smiled up at him. “I wasn’t sure I’d have another chance to tell you I love you,” I said as I lifted the tie from my neck.

His cheeks reddened, which told me the bruising had already started. “He could’ve killed you.”

“But he didn’t. It’s over now,” I said.

“Not for Louisa,” he said. “It’ll never be fully over for her.”

It was then we heard a gunshot. For the second time that day, my blood froze.

Chapter 30

Alexander

* * *

“Stay here with the children,” I said to Quinn. “I’ll go see what’s happened.”

“Yes, yes. Go. We’ll be here.”

“Lock the door,” I said.

I ran out the door and down the steps in the direction of the gunshot. It had come from the main section of town. Near the jail, if I had my guess. I was right. There, in the middle of the street, was Kellam’s body, facedown in red snow. Lancaster hovered over him. The air smelled of gunpowder. Dr. Moore stumbled out of the saloon with his doctor’s bag in his arms and ran toward them.

“What in bloody hell happened?” I asked Sven Johnson, who stood in front of his shop holding a broom.