Teaching Patience (Homespun) by Katie Crabapple Read Free Book Online

wished he’d moved out here a widower, and felt free to marry a sweet young girl like her.  He couldn’t ruin her reputation by asking her to consider him, though.  A divorced man had no right to even think about a girl like Patience.
    He rolled over so his back was to her and forced his eyes closed.  He needed to stop thinking about her.  He wasn’t ever going to marry again.  He’d promised himself that as soon as Diana had left.  He needed to keep that promise.  He and Charlie had been alone for almost four years and they were doing great.  He didn’t need a woman to come along and change things.  Why would he?
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
    Patience woke just before dawn and sat up abruptly.  It was quiet.  At first she wasn’t certain what was wrong, but then it hit her.  The storm had stopped!  She said a quick silent prayer thanking God for getting them through.
    She got up and made her way over to Hugh, who was standing looking out the window.  “It’s over.  We made it!”  She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, so excited to have made it through with no harm to any of the children.
    He grinned down at her.  “We sure did.  You did a great job preparing.”   She looked so happy as she stood there, with her hair falling out of her braid, and her dirty dress, he wanted to laugh.  His ex-wife would have been horrified for anyone to see her like that.  Patience didn’t seem to have a vain bone in her body.
    “I’m glad you were here.  It was easier knowing I wasn’t the only adult.”  She wanted to say more, but she wasn’t sure how.  How could she tell him he was so much more than she’d thought at first, and she’d love to get to know him better?  She couldn’t. 
    “You’d have done fine without me.  I wouldn’t have made it without your rope, though.”  They stood smiling at one another in the dark before dawn.  The children slept all around them.  Patience felt as if she were totally alone with a man for the first time in her life. 
    “I’m glad you ran into it.” 
    They kept their voices low so they wouldn’t disturb the children who were still sound asleep.  He looked at the huge drifts out the window.  “What happens now?  Do we send the children home this morning, or have a regular school day?”
    Patience smiled.  “Their fathers will be coming as soon as it’ s daylight.”  She paused for a moment watching the first rays of the sun rise over the prairie.  “I remember when I was trapped here during the blizzard when I was a student.  I’ll never forget how exciting it was to see my papa come on snow shoes pulling a toboggan.  My two brothers and I piled on and he pulled us home.”  
    “You were never caught here during a blizzard again?”
    She shook her head.  “Of course, after that all the teachers have been prepared.  We could have lasted several more days if we’d had to.”  She paused resting her forehead against the window.  “I’m so glad we didn’t have to.”
    He watched her as she talked smiling at how happy she seemed now that the storm was over.  “Do you have big plans for your summer off?”
    She smiled.  “The same as always.  I’ll help Mama with the gardening and the canning.  I’ll probably make some new dresses for next year, and help make clothes for my little brothers and sisters.  We’ll go for picnics at the lake after church every Sunday.”
    “No beaux to take you around?”   He almost bit his tongue after asking that.  What was he thinking acting as if he was a young bachelor who could court her?
    She blushed , shaking her head.  “My papa tends to scare men away. He’s so strict about everything.  When my mama’s best friend came to live with us before the twins were born, I had to go with Charlotte and James every time they left the house as a chaperone.  Imagine how he’s going to be when I want to start courting.”
    “You’ve never been courted?”  He was honestly